What are the Scottish Greens 2026 manifesto promises?: The 89-page manifesto includes free bus travel for all, no new North Sea oil and gas, 40,000 green energy jobs, a Scottish wealth tax, and levies on landlords, supermarkets, gambling firms and private schools.Source: Scottish Green Party manifesto, 14 April 2026
Why did the Scottish Greens leave the SNP coalition?: The Bute House Agreement collapsed in April 2024 after the SNP under Humza Yousaf decided not to meet its Climate Change Act targets, breaking a core term of the Coalition deal.
How many seats do the Scottish Greens have in Holyrood?: The Scottish Greens hold seven MSP seats in the current Holyrood Parliament, all on regional list seats under the Additional Member System.
Is the Scottish Green Party the same as the Green Party in England?: No. The Scottish Greens are an independent party separate from the Green Party of England and Wales, though both share similar policies on climate change.
How many seats did the Scottish Greens win in the 2026 Holyrood election?: The Scottish Greens won 8 Holyrood seats, their best-ever result. Lorna Slater won Edinburgh Central from Angus Robertson (SNP) on the constituency vote, only the second time the party has won a constituency seat.Source: Lowdown
Do the Scottish Greens support independence and what is their role in the Holyrood majority?: Yes. Combined with the SNP's 58 seats, the Scottish Greens' 15 seats give a pro-independence bloc of 73, clearing the 65-seat threshold Swinney cited for a 2028 referendum, even though the SNP alone fell short.Source: Lowdown
Why did the Scottish Greens leave the Bute House Agreement with the SNP?: The Bute House Agreement collapsed in April 2024 after the SNP decided not to maintain its statutory climate targets under the Climate Change Act, which was a core condition the Scottish Greens had attached to the Coalition arrangement.

Background

The Scottish Green Party contested the 2026 Holyrood election as a party of opposition after ending its government partnership with the SNP. Co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater led the party into the Bute House Agreement in 2021, entering government as junior Coalition partners for the first time in Scottish history. The agreement collapsed in April 2024 over the SNP's decision not to meet its climate targets under the Climate Change Act. The party published its 89-page manifesto on 14 April 2026 in Glasgow, co-launched by MSPs Ross Greer and Gillian Mackay, with headline policies including free bus travel, no new North Sea oil and gas licences, a Scottish wealth tax, and 40,000 green energy jobs.

On 7 May 2026, the Scottish Greens returned 8 Holyrood seats, their best-ever result by seat count. The standout result was Lorna Slater defeating Angus Robertson (SNP) in Edinburgh Central by 12,680 votes to 7,702, the Scottish Greens' second-ever Holyrood constituency seat and the second time the party has taken a seat from a senior SNP figure on the constituency vote. The 8-seat result gives the Greens a confidence-and-supply route to support an SNP minority government: the SNP-Green combined bloc of 73 seats clears the 65-seat majority threshold John Swinney cited for a 2028 independence referendum, even though the SNP itself fell seven seats short.

The IFS five-party sweep of April 2026 found the Scottish Greens, like all other Holyrood parties, unable to fully fund their manifesto commitments. Harvie publicly acknowledged this, saying the concept of a fully funded manifesto is misleading.

Source Material

Scottish Green Party - Wikipedia Scottish Greens official site

How the World Sees Them

SNP

Former coalition partners who terminated the Bute House Agreement in 2024; the 8-seat Green result restores SNP-Green combined majority without requiring a formal coalition.

Scottish Labour

Views the Greens as a competitor for progressive votes; the Greens' Edinburgh Central win directly displaced a senior SNP figure rather than taking a Labour seat.

Scottish Conservatives

Frame the Greens as a spoiler that kept the SNP in power for an extra parliamentary term, and now provides the bloc majority for another independence push.